Review: Bravado Designs Essential Embrace Nursing Bra

While I know some have had success in wearing nursing bras for wirefree comfort, I have never gone that route - mainly because I cannot stand hard plastic clasps rubbing against my skin. That defeats the comfort of wirefree. But I tried this one after reading a great review of it on StackDD+ (whose blog seems to be gone now). In particular, because it seemed to give a great shape. But the main reason I hoped it might work? The unique feature of the conversion kit it comes with: you can remove the plastic nursing clips and convert it into a regular bra. Win!

I took no pics of the bra on me because, well, I just couldn't stand wearing it. Even for that long. 

It's easier to see the details in white, but I tried it in black, with purple piping:

Comfort

(in which the news is all bad)

 

Fabric.  A roughly 50/50 cotton/nylon blend that seemed promising. But in reality, had a canvas-like texture, and virtually no stretch. My first thought was scuba material. The fabric is not rough, but rather....industrial. Both band and cups are of the same material.

Band.  Oh dear-mother-of-god, it is awful. The material has virtually no stretch.
Besides the single blog review, I had only amazon reviews to go on. Enough of them mentioned the tightness of the band (in a negative light) that I did take heed and ordered up a band size. Which I thought would be sufficient because hello! Nursing bra. Fluctuations in band size are a major part of that process. Also, the extra columns of hooks should have provided ample adjustment. 

Oh, I was so, so wrong. The band was insanely, ridiculously tight. The 40 fit like a 34. I cannot imagine a nursing mother being comfortable with that kind of constriction, let alone me. Because of the material, I didn't even feel it was worth trying a larger band size; the lack of stretch, or even comfortable give, would have made this torture to wear if, as I often do, you experience any kind of size fluctuation throughout the day.

Elastic Edging.   Bravado actually lists this as a 'feature': rough, raised edging that covers the top and bottom of the band. The finishing of the straps connecting to the band was also abrasive. Pretty much the opposite of what you need when you have sensitive skin that is undergoing a lot of changes. 

Sides.  Extremely high. So that 'feature' of biting elastic pretty much guarantees chafing for me.

Positives?

Shape.  There's one. That's it. The shape is indeed very good: rounded, lifted, fairly natural. You could wear it under a T-shirt and feel comfortable - with the shape. You likely wouldn't be feeling any other kind of comfort.

Clip conversion.  Oops. I was so deeply annoyed by the discomfort of the scuba-bra that I had it right back on its way to amazon that same day....totally forgot to even assess that feature.

When Do I Wear It?

Hahahahahaha! Ha.....ha.

Size:  40H